Crystallization of molecular liquids through shear-induced nucleation

Abstract

We report that a shear-induced transition to an ordered state occurs in simulations of condensed molecular systems and that positional ordering can persist after shearing has stopped. Moreover, we calculate that shear fluctuations suffi­cient to induce microscopic ordering can occur in equilibrium fluids. We conclude that microscopic ordering induced by shear fluctuations provides a mechanism for homogeneous nucleation of the phase transition from liquid to crystal in real molecular systems and may therefore be used as the basis of a computational technique for investigating the crystallization of molecular liquids.